Flexible Solutions Meet Your Forming and Fabricating Needs
Advances and customization of press brakes and stamping presses meet your shop’s high-precision requirements, allowing you to better serve your customers.
Posted: January 31, 2022
Custom Side-Acting Press Features an Eight-Point Square Gib-Guidance System
Beckwood Press Co. (Fenton, Mo.) recently delivered a 50-ton gib-guided bulldozer press to Haven Steel Products (Haven, KS) to bend and straighten heated steel to form industrial rotary blades. Haven Steel is a leading fabricator of heat-treated steel components for the agricultural and construction industries.
The side-acting press features an eight-point square gib-guidance system that minimizes lateral movement under load to ensure parallelism throughout the cycle. Presence-sensing safety mats and a hydraulically actuated unloading mechanism provide additional protection from the heated parts.
The custom press is integrated into a fully automated work cell that includes a preheat oven, part handling robots and an automated chute. Automation integration of the press with a custom part loading machine and unloading mechanism was performed by Wichita, Kan.-based Techam Solutions, a provider of operations management solutions and engineering services to manufacturers. This process takes a part through a segment of the overall forming and heat treating as required per customer specifications.
The automation sequence coordinates a robust machine tending function for the press. Techam Solutions worked with Beckwood to connect the part loader and unloader to the press’s PLC using a remote Input/Output module, allowing the system to be controlled from a central HMI and eliminating potential communication issues with the ancillary equipment.
“The installation of the custom Beckwood Press is an integral part of the overall automation project and allows for parts to be formed and directly inserted into the heat-treat process untouched by human hands,” said Tom Oxley, special projects manager, Haven Steel Products. “The completed project improves workplace safety, work environment, productivity and quality.”
Fab-Line Machinery LLC (Fairview, TN), the exclusive importer of Baykal Machinery in the United States, offers Baykal APES electric press brakes. The machines provide a fast and energy-efficient solution to today’s fabricators. The equipment is available in sizes of 44, 55, 88, and 110 tons, with lengths of 5, 6, 8, and 10 feet, which cover most high-precision needs.
Maintenance is low and strokes per minute are faster than hydraulics due to zero valve shift time. There is no concern of overheating, oil leaks, and no worries regarding between housing because full length is between housing for forming. In addition, the feature rich machines include a built-in tooling cabinet, support arms with non-marking brush tops, backgauge axis — from 2,4, and 6 axes — are available, and hydraulic clamping reduces tool set up.
The press brake is available at a competitive price. Said Tom Jellison, CEO, Flexco Products Inc., a full-service steel fabricator located in Elkhart, Ind., regarding the equipment: “Basically, it has increased productivity, speed — which is productivity — quality of product and performance. We are extremely happy with all their [Fab-Line’s] equipment. So, we will continue to buy those products from Baykal and from Fab-Line. Basically, I would stack that product up against anybody.”
LVD North America (Akron, N.Y.) introduces the Strippit V30 1550, a heavy-duty 30-metric ton turret punch press featuring a 200-inch (5 m) X-axis. With an exceptionally long X-axis, the punch press is the only punching machine of its kind engineered to allow the processing of worksheets up to 200-inches long-by-60-inches wide without multiple sheet repositions, excessive sheet handling or extra shearing operations. The Strippit V30 1550 has a maximum hit rate of 440 hits per minute on 1-inch centers in material thicknesses up to 0.25-inches (6.35 mm). The advanced table positioning system of the Strippit V30 1550 produces a finished part accuracy of +/- .004-inches (0.1 mm) with a repeatability of +/- .002-inches (0.05 mm) over the entire table travel. Productivity enhancing features include versatile 48-station thick-style turret; four programmable work clamps; latest generation Touch-P control; and all brush or combination brush/ball table, depending on application, among other features.
ATA is a proprietary Salvagnini (Hamilton, OH) solution, which is unique on the market, and makes it possible to automatically adjust the length of the bending tools of the B3 press brake to the part being processed. This automatic tool adjuster makes it possible to make full use of the press brake to produce batch-one or kits without compromising on productivity. To improve the OEE of the B3 press brakes, Salvagnini has introduced a modular and scalable concept of automation that can increase their flexibility and independence, allowing them to adapt when re-tooling and managing the tools according to production. The aim is to reduce the impact of process variables on bending and to provide greater certainty in terms of machining times, costs and budgets.
Salvagnini supplies 65 percent of its B3s, and practically 100 percent of the press brakes, with ATA automation with its CAM software STREAMFORMER, which “integrates the press brake in a complete process because it is part of STREAM, the totally integrated programming suite for Salvagnini systems,” said Stefano Cera, Salvagnini’s product manager for software solutions. “The software makes it possible to perform activities in parallel, because while one technician is working on the programs, the operator can continue to bend — which also reduces to zero the impact of the programming time on the production efficiency of the press brake.”
VICLA S.r.l (Albavilla, Como, Italy) offers the Superior, a CNC hybrid press brake that cuts down on energy costs, while improving bending speed and precision. In a hybrid press brake, the punch always reaches the same low dead point (LDP) to the thousandth of a millimeter each time with consistency. Moreover, the oil handled is much less than in traditional synchronized hydraulic presses. The hybrid system also allows fast and precise crossbar movements due to the presence of two brushless engines that directly move two separate small oil tanks. It follows that speed and precision go hand in hand with reduced consumptions. When compared to a traditional synchronized hydraulic press brake, the energy savings, in standard conditions, range from 55 percent to 78 percent. With a hybrid system, the press brake only absorbs the energy it needs when the operator uses the machine. Brushless electrical engines move the crosspiece (consuming energy) only when the pedal is activate, otherwise they are off.
Graham Stamping Co., a premier, progressive metal stamping company and complete one-stop shop for all metal stamping needs located in western Pennsylvania, is enjoying many benefits from its 300-ton unitized frame AIDA (Dayton, OH) Servo Press, model DSF-N2-3000. Company president David MacHarg III noted, “One of the big features [they] like is how intelligent the press is at protecting itself, how it can stop itself if it feels like something isn’t safe or set up correctly, even beyond [their] die sensors.” This is a big advantage over Graham Stamping’s mechanical presses that “do not handle this as well,” resulting in “some substantial die crashes, as well as press maintenance bills.”
On an automotive anti-rotation bracket moved from a mechanical press to a DSF-N2-3000 AIDA servo press, Graham Stamping achieved a 49 percent productivity increase over its previous mechanical stamping press production method. This is a progressive die part, which includes a coining process at both ends, stamped from minimum 0.108 in. thick SAE J2340 grade 340X HSLA material. The precision provided by the direct-drive servo press is another reason the company cites for moving this bracket from the mechanical press. Additionally, Graham Stamping’s AIDA servo press investment allows the company to quote more competitively, sell parts at lower prices, and realize at least a 30 percent productivity increase on every part moved to its AIDA servo press.
In the fall, Lantek Sheet Metal Solutions (Mason, OH) presented its innovations and expansion plans at Blechexpo in Stuttgart, Germany, which included the Lantek Expert V2021, which comes with 25 innovations that simplify and further automate the process of cutting, punching and shearing sheet metal parts for its customers. Lantek is leading the digital transformation of companies in the sheet metal and metal industry. Improvements to the Lantek Expert V2021 include:
- Greater flexibility in importing parts, including drag-and-drop; duplicate part detection and management; column customization during import; and improved drawing management.
- New options for more efficient destruction of remnant pieces and skeletons, as well as redistribution of parts over the entire sheet to optimize the rigidity of the skeleton.
- Improvement of the import of external 3D CAD designs with the A2N (Assembly To Nesting) importer, which allows automatic unfolding of most 3D formats on the market, already taking into account the tool used for bending.
- The new spiral cut for hole cutting destroys the material inside the hole so that it falls into the machine bed to avoid collisions and saving the manual removal of waste material; the smoother and faster cutting process avoids sharp corners and requires fewer cut start cycles.
- Better lead in/out positions, nesting by zones, new micro-joint treatments, automatic remanent dimensioning, options for skeleton destruction, customization of the import window, and improvements in cost calculation.
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